In a studio interview with host Gerry Dick on Inside Indiana Business, TechPoint President and CEO Mike Langellier talked about some of the exciting things ticket holders can look forward to during the 15th annual Mira Awards gala at the JW Marriott on May 3.

Gerry opened this five-minute segment reporting on the momentum of the tech sector and the outstanding stats about this year’s applicants. TechPoint received 170 applications for Mira awards, which is a 40 percent increase over last year. Also of note, about half of the applications were from first-timers who had never before participated in the Mira Awards.

More revealing than the record-breaking applications,for the first time Mike released aggregate growth-rate data for the Tech Company, Emerging Tech Company and Tech Startup categories that show just how remarkably Indiana’s tech sector has performed over the last year. Typical growth rates for computer software companies is between 8 and 11 percent, whereas among the nominees for this year’s Miras, the median growth rates were 25 percent, 60 percent and 100 percent respectively in 2013.

Here are the following median growth rates for nominees in the three aforementioned company-performance focused award categories:

Tech Company of the Year:
25% Median Growth Rate

Emerging Tech Company of the year:
60% Median Growth Rate

Tech Startup of the Year:
100% Median Growth Rate

Mike told Gerry that the top five performers in the Emerging Tech Company of the Year category had average growth rates above 160 percent. Among the Tech Startup of the Year nominees, the median growth rate was 100 percent, but several reported growth rates of 300 or 500 percent, and a few reached in to four-digit growth above 1,000 percent.

Moving the Needle

The main objective of the Mira Awards is to celebrate the successes and serve as inspiration for future growth, but as Mike explains in the interview with Gerry, the Miras are also an incredibly powerful platform for the nominees and winners to use in their own marketing. In fact, TechPoint has had winners who can attribute more than $1 million in new revenue to the exposure and prestige that comes with winning a Mira Award.

In a groundbreaking new partnership with Inside Indiana Business, Mira Award winners will be interviewed by Gerry Dick backstage right after accepting their awards, and the videos will be featured on the Inside Indiana Business TV show and distributed to 60,000 subscribers in a new video e-newsletter co-branded by TechPoint and Inside Indiana Business.

“Being able to watch the winners tell their stories through video and then delivering those stories to a statewide and national audience through a new video e-newsletter will only help strengthen the tech sector story for Indiana,” said Langellier. He also said it’s very exciting that half of Gerry’s TV show will be dedicated to highlighting Mira Award winners, their accomplishments and success stories.

Talent Comes Home

If Mike Langellier’s mouth is moving, he’s talking about tech talent, and this interview isn’t any different. He told Gerry about plans to use the Mira Awards as another opportunity to introduce soon-to-be college graduates to the tech ecosystem, and offer Hoosier expatriates an enviable picture of the careers they could have if they returned to Indiana.

TechPoint created the IndyX initiative over the course of the past year focused on attracting tech talent from colleges and tech professionals who grew up in Indiana or attended Indiana universities. Indiana needs more skilled computer-related employees, especially software developers, which is detailed in a tech workforce report published by TechPoint in March.

IndyXtern, the ultimate summer internship, is a “summer in the city” experience for 50 of the top college software developers and engineers, who will live together on the campus of IUPUI, work at the city’s top tech companies, and learn from special guest speakers and site visits. Because this is the inaugural year for IndyXtern, TechPoint is going to bu in the Xterns for the Mira Awards Gala on May 3.

“They’re going to look like rockstars on campus,” Mike said. “We’re going to celebrate them with their friends and then we’re going to buss them in and celebrate them in front of the 1,000 people at the Mira Awards because this is the first inaugural year and its a really impressive class of kids.”

The IndyXterns come from Purdue, IU, Rose-Hulman, Ball State and Notre Dame, but some are coming from out-of-state universities like the Univeristy of Illinois and Texas A&M.

Mike also announced that TechPoint is inviting Xpats back to Indiana for the Mira Awards. It’s a big weekend in Indy with the Mira Gala, the Mini Marathon and other 500 Festival activities, so it’s the perfect time for tech professionals who grew up in Indiana or went to college here to return for the Mira Awards and explore the opportunities for joining the fast-growing tech sector here.

TechPoint is offering to pay for the Mira Awards tickets and travel expenses for five Xpats living and working on the coasts or other far-off markets, but interested in moving back to Indiana and working in tech. Those interested should contact Sally Reasoner at sally@techpoint.org as soon as possible.